Postseason Play

EUSTIS - Speak of a reunion, and a gathering some five, 10 or 25 years after high school or college comes to mind. But a reunion is what a group of 13- and 14-year-olds have planned, with baseball providing the backdrop. Two years ago, the boys Stephen Chapman, Carter Clements, Jacob Hall, Chris Kendall, Jonathan Lucroy, Brett Merrill and Chad Steverson got a taste of baseball success. Their Eustis Little League 11-12-year-old all-star team won its district tournament and advanced to the sectional tournament in St. Augustine before bowing out of postseason play.

It's been so long since Pecos lost a baseball game, the Eagles can hardly remember how it feels. The Eagles have rattled off 17 consecutive wins since their lost loss on March 3, an 11-1 defeat against a Lubbock Cooper team that's ranked sixth in Class 3A by the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association. Pecos' winning streak is the longest in 3A at the moment and has the team excited about its chance in the playoffs. The Eagles (24-3), who enjoyed a first-round bye after an undefeated run through District 3-3A, start the postseason this weekend with an area-round series against Lubbock Estacado (16-15)

MOVING ON. Florida State received an invitation to NCAApostseason play. The Seminoles (44-12), along with Louisiana Tech (48-6) and Texas A&M (39-18), will compete in a three-team regional Friday at Ruston, La.

Carl Meyer resigned as athletic director at the University of Cincinnati, less than two weeks after the school was put on probation for NCAA violations. Thurman Owens, who has worked in the university president's office, took over as interim athletic director. Meyer, 48, came to Cincinnati in April 1985. The high-profile sports of men's basketball and football have struggled during his tenure at the 35,000-student university, which plays football as an independent and is in the Metro Conference for basketball.

MID-EASTERN Athletic Conference champion or not, Florida A&M played its last game of the season Saturday. The NCAA requires that all I-AA schools be available for postseason play on the fourth weekend in November to participate in the 16-team I-AA playoffs. Because this is the fourth weekend of the month, FAMU is ineligible for postseason play.HOME SWEET HOMEFOR 29 players involved in Saturday's game, the Florida Classic was homecoming. Eight B-CC players and 21 FAMU players played high school football in the Tampa Bay area.

For most teams, postseason play is supposed to be a time of elimination. But just try telling that to area high school baseball teams.There are six teams in postseason play with half at home for sub-regional games after claiming district titles. The other three schools, which lost in the district finals, on the road.South Lake play host to Bishop Moore in a Class 4A sub-regional; Leesburg is at home with Titusville in a Class 5A sub-regional; and Mount Dora Bible is at home for its Class 2A, sub-regional game with Hilliard.

When the Toronto Blue Jays need a victory, they give the ball to Juan Guzman. The hard-throwing right-hander is 5-0 in postseason play and an incredible 40-11 during three regular seasons. The only pitcher with more postseason victories without a loss is Toronto's starter Dave Stewart (7-0) for Game 6 on Tuesday. Guzman wasn't on the bench when Bo Jackson, representing the tying run, came to the plate in the ninth inning Sunday. ''I knew we were up by so many runs, I wasn't worried,'' said Guzman, who was in the trainer's room working on the weights.

The Kissimmee Cobras, eliminated from postseason play a fourth straight year, play the next four of their eight remaining 1996 Florida State League minor-league baseball games at Osceola County Stadium.The Cobras begin a two-game series opposite the Port St. Lucie Mets today at 7 p.m. After taking Sunday off, the Cobras will play host to the Daytona Beach Cubs in 7 p.m. games Monday and Tuesday before closing out their Class A season with a four-game road trip starting Wednesday in West Palm Beach against the Expos at Municipal Stadium.

It will be a strange feeling for the Florida Gators when they begin preparation Tuesday for their trip to play UCLA in the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day.This group of Gators never has been away from home for the holidays.With the exception of tight end Walter Odom, linebacker Gerold Dickens and running back James Massey, who competed in the 1983 Gator Bowl against Iowa, none of the Gators have played in a bowl game. NCAA probation prohibited it after the 1984 and 1985 seasons, then a mediocre team prevented it after the 1986 season.

TALLAHASSEE — The words "tradition" and "legacy" carry major weight on virtually any college campus across the country. But when they are used to describe football at those respective schools, they can take on a much different meaning. Athletically, Florida State has been no stranger to the two words, and, in safety Lamarcus Joyner 's eyes, it doesn't appear the Seminoles will any time soon. With a 38-7 blowout road win over Boston College at Alumni Stadium on Thursday, FSU earned its nation-leading 30 t h consecutive bowl berth.

Boone's football team prides itself on having good student-athletes who will have put in the time to be prepared for final semester exams in January. The Braves are also more than ready for another huge Friday night football test. Boone (11-2), which plays at Seminole (11-2) in a Class 6A state semifinal showdown at 7:30 tonight, will be teeing it up for its 43rd varsity football game in three seasons. Boone went four rounds deep into the playoffs in its 9-5 season of 2006, all the way to the 6A final in a 14-1 campaign last year and is now back in the large-classification final four for the third consecutive season.

Twelve hundred dollars is pocket change for athletes making millions. Not so for players in the National Indoor Football League -- a minor-league level of professional football where $200 per week is the going rate. Problem is, some players in Daytona Beach and Kissimmee say they aren't even getting that. The NIFL's foray into Florida this year has been fraught with drama as coaches, players and local businesses have accused Centurion Sports Management President Anthony Pewonski of avoiding payment.

DELAND -- Stetson has two habits that tend to give Coach Pete Dunn even more gray hair than he might normally have. First, the Hatters this season loved to let teams back in games. And they had never beaten UCF in the postseason. The first trend Dunn watched repeat itself again Wednesday. Hatters pitcher Chris Ingoglia shouldered much of the load to end the second. Ingoglia recovered from a mid-game crisis to stymie the Golden Knights and Stetson handed the Knights an 8-5 loss in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Tournament at Conrad Park.

Forget the pro tours. Orlando is fast becoming a centerpiece town in the NCAA's major-college golf galaxy. The Central Florida region on Wednesday went 2-for-2 in receiving bids for prestigious college events, landing the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's East Regional, to be staged at Isleworth or Lake Nona country clubs, plus the '07 Division I Women's National Championship at LPGA International in Daytona Beach. UCF will serve as the host school for both. The bids were submitted by the Central Florida Sports Commission, which has secured an NCAA postseason golf event for the region every year from 1997-2007.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Justin Smith fondly remembers the sweet spring of 1997, when every day at the ballpark was a good day. He was a junior catcher at Lake Brantley High, and a Patriots team built around current Toronto Blue Jays starter Felipe Lopez won a Class 6A state championship. Five years and four ballclubs later, Smith has finally found the aura again. He is the star catcher for an Embry-Riddle University team that is 39-8 and ranked No. 1 nationally in NAIA baseball. "Everybody clicked on that Lake Brantley team.

Deion Sanders flew to Pittsburgh with the Atlanta Braves Thursday, missing a Falcons prac-tice and leaving unanswered the question of whether he plans to play in both an NFL game and a National League playoff game Sunday.Sanders' attorney Eugene Parker: ''As of today he says he doesn't know - I'm serious. I think he'll make a decision when he feels the time is right, whenever that is.''Braves third baseman Terry Pendleton, however, thinks a decision has been made. ''I'm pretty sure Deion will play both sports Sunday,'' he said.

Florida Southern College, which twice lost to Tampa in the regular season, continued its postseason dominance Friday over the Spartans at Rollins College's Enyart-Alumni Fieldhouse.Derek Flowers scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Mocs (26-3), the fourth-ranked team in NCAA II, to a 60-53 semifinal victory over Tampa (23-6) in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. FSC will meet Florida Institute of Technology at 7:30 tonight in the championship game.The Mocs have won nine of the SSC's 14 postseason tournaments, including the last five, and are 5-2 vs. Tampa in postseason play.

October is finally here, and Major League Baseball's playoff series wasted little time getting wild and wacky Tuesday. The Seattle Mariners needed 10 innings to turn back the White Sox 7-4 in Chicago. Edgar Martinez and John Olerud hit consecutive homers off Keith Foulke in the top of the 10th to take the first game of the best-of-five series. "Walking off the mound wasn't the difficult part. Giving up the home run to Edgar was the difficult part," said Foulke, who gave up nine homers in 88 innings this season.

EUSTIS - Speak of a reunion, and a gathering some five, 10 or 25 years after high school or college comes to mind. But a reunion is what a group of 13- and 14-year-olds have planned, with baseball providing the backdrop. Two years ago, the boys Stephen Chapman, Carter Clements, Jacob Hall, Chris Kendall, Jonathan Lucroy, Brett Merrill and Chad Steverson got a taste of baseball success. Their Eustis Little League 11-12-year-old all-star team won its district tournament and advanced to the sectional tournament in St. Augustine before bowing out of postseason play.